Wrestle Mania

I'm ashamed of myself that I haven't even blogged about Kaleb starting wrestling.  I think he's been going now for more than a month and has participated in 6 or more matches.  It's been an interesting experience, not really what I had imagined.  I'm not sure he loves it just yet, in fact, sometimes I think he hates it though he doesn't ever express that.  He's always excited for practices and especially pumped about the meets but the minute he steps on the mat, he's scared out of his mind and most often in tears.  The amazing thing about it is that he continues to wrestle while the tears are freely flowing.  You'd think he would just lay down and give up and get pinnned just to get it over with but he does the exact opposite. He fights and works his hardest until he's physically and emotionally drained.  Up until Thursday he's lost every single one of his matches.  Some of them he was pinned within a very short amount of time and others he's made it all 3 rounds and never gotten pinned but was pretty much the underdog (literally, he's spent most of his time underneath.  But, things changed Thursday night and he went out ready to win against a kid that he lost to a couple of weeks ago.  He took him down really quick and then pinned him, in fact it happened so fast, I didn't even pull the camera out.  I'm so ticked because his expression was so funny. He wasn't even sure that he'd won until they held his arm up as the winner.  It's pretty funny because when the season first started, he said to me one day, "what's the big deal about winning, all they do is hold your arm up."  Funny kid!  Anyway, he's pretty proud of all of his medals he's recieved but especially proud of this medal he earned for actually winning!  Who knows what will happen at Saturday's match but I'm just glad that he's had a taste of winning, just so he knows how it feels.  Now I wonder how long it will take him to get past the tears that so freely flow the second he's on the mat.  Way to go, Buddy!

Funny side note, DJ has Jordyn and Kaleb matched up as wrestling partners here at home.  Things were going really well until Kaleb by accident bloodied her nose and fattened her lip.  Needless to say, Jordyn has been a little gun shy about returning to our home wrestling mat (carpeted living room that is not very big)!  Porter and Kamryn spend most of their time wrestling one another now so Kamryn keeps asking me when she'll be able to start wrestling:)  Yikes, I don't think so!

Doesn't he just look thrilled? :)

Look out for these two! 

Now that's more like it!  Kaleb does have shorts on, his shirt is just super long:)

DJ giving Kaleb some pointers before the match!  He's determined to make a wrestler out of Kaleb.  Not so much for the reasons you might think but more because he always says that he learned some of his greatest lessons as a wrestler.  He learned to be a hard worker, not to blame others for failures, self discipline, etc.  I must say that he is all of these things and more and if Kaleb turns out like his dad, he'll be a great man! 

More Halloween!

I don't ever claim to be the crafty, creative, type of mom but I have had fun the past few years making an exciting Halloween dinner complete with mummy dogs, bread stick bones, eyeballs, veggie skeleton, blood dip, etc.  This year my mom saved the day and gave the kids a fun bag full of all the paper goods for our themed Halloween dinner.  It seriously made making the dinner that much more fun because I didn't have to worry about all of that extra stuff that really makes the dinner totally exciting!  Anyway, the mummy dogs were my favorite, they are just so dang cute and they taste pretty good but only if you buy real hot dogs, not the scary fake .68 cents ones.  The kids loved the bread stick bones dipped in blood (pizza sauce) and they they thought the floating eyeballs (green grapes) were pretty funny.  My veggie skeleton guy is a little on the fat side only because for a family of 8, we needed a lot more veggies than the one pictured.  He was a little funny but it sure helped the kids eat a ton more veggies than usual.  Anyway, it was a fun time and we ended the evening with pumpkin carving.  This was by far our lamest year in the pumpkin carving area because Regan was up to her eyeballs in algebra homework so she and DJ couldn't join in the fun.  That made me the designated "pumpkin cleaner-outer" which always takes entirely too long so most of our pumpkins didn't even get all the way carved, others had stab wound (thanks to Porter) and others were pretty darn cute considering they were done by a 3, 5, & 8 year olds.  Oh well, we're making memories, right? 

Halloween 2011

I'm so behind, but what's new??  Halloween was a lot of fun even though it's quickly becoming a faded memory....time is just flying by.  Anyway, the kids made a candy haul once again and had no problem downing it all in a short period of time.  Porter and Kamryn thought they'd died and gone to heaven with all their favorite candy right at their fingertips. It was pretty funny to watch them dump out their bucket time after time just to go through and see what yummy thing they could eat next.  I just let them eat and have a good time and then it was gone.  That's the way I like it.  I did put some away for out gingerbread house making project that we plan to do at the first of December.  Should be lots of fun especially with the variety of candy!  Anyway, the kids all looked adorable and me, well, maybe not so adorable but I had a ton of fun dressing up right along with the kids.  Porter was not loving my face but Kami thinks I ought to sport that look every day!  She's a hoot!  My favorite comment of the night regarding my costume came from a guy in my ward, he said, "Hey, Sister Teichert, that's the best you've ever looked!"  Hardy Har Har!!!

One adorable pumpkin and Miss Fancy Nancy!  Jordyn couldn't have been happier with her costume!

Power Ranger to the rescue!!  And, the zombie soccer player (Morgan couldn't decide what to be so this is what she finally came up with--pretty easy, huh, and she was happy so that's what counts)

  

                  Regan in her bathtub costume (she's such a good sport) and Little Porter Bear!

What did I go as??  Well, I went as myself, frazzled mother of six children, housewife, Bishop's wife, etc.!:)

I had to post this gem--this was taken just before we left for the trunk-or-treat.  Can you believe I would actually make Kamryn eat her dinner before I let her gorge herself on candy??? What a mean mom.  Yes, she did finish every bite!

Man, they are growing up way too fast!  They loved Halloween this year!

Picking your brain...

Last night I was putting Porter to bed and out of the blue he asks, "mommy, what are boogers made out of?"  DJ and I just about died of laughter!

Food for thought: :)

Boogers are mucus (myoo-kuss). Mucus is the thin, slippery material that is found inside your nose. Many people call mucus snot.

 

I have to remember this

I'm thankful for:
Gentle nudgings from the spirit (and the twins) on Sunday that helped me get up out of my seat to share my testimony.  The spirit sometimes works through little kids, at least that's what I think.  On Sunday I was sitting there in the meeting when Kamryn whispers, "mommy, I want to go sit on daddy's lap while you talk in the microphone."  And, Porter in his not so quiet voice kept saying things like, "mommy, someday we all going to die, huh?" and, "mommy, then we'll go and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again."  and, "why did the mean men put Jesus on the cross"  and a few other things.  How could I not get up and share my testimony of the gospel after that.  So, today I'm thankful for my testimony and particularly grateful for my sweet babies that express themselves so well.

Thankful

I've been forming thankful lists in my head since the start of November but haven't had a chance to post them.  I only have a second today so among many, many, other things,
I'm grateful today for:
Twins that completely entertain each other every day with very few fights.  Really, there is no need for them to have playdates because they have one another.  (We do have playdates with some of their best friends which they LOVE) but, it's not something we do on a regular basis because these two are just best buddies!

insights

When life gets you down.......eat lots of Halloween candy and run 4 miles early in the morning in 20 degree weather to justify it!  Somehow all guilt just floats away!

I highly recommend this!!

Jordyn's funnies

At the dinner table Jordyn said, '' Mom, I have a charlie brown'' (charlie horse). Ha, I love it!!!

Regan's funnies

Last night Regan and I attended her parent teacher conferences.  As we were leaving I asked her who her favorite teacher is and she replied, "I'd have to say Mrs. Call because she seems so user friendly!"  I started to laugh and she said, "oh is that only for computers."  What a funny girl!!